A sober Reich? Alcohol and tobacco use in Nazi Germany.

Alcohol and tobacco use did not fit well with National Socialist aesthetics. However, these substances were not proscribed in Nazi Germany in spite of the heavy penalties for excessive use: Alcoholics were sterilized, and smoking by children was a criminal offense. This article argues that the great demand of the German people for these products prevented the authoritarian regime from alcohol and tobacco prohibition but measures were taken by the Nazis to reduce tobacco and alcohol consumption in the next generation.